[vim] How to effectively work with multiple files in Vim

I've started using Vim to develop Perl scripts and am starting to find it very powerful.

One thing I like is to be able to open multiple files at once with:

vi main.pl maintenance.pl

and then hop between them with:

:n
:prev

and see which file are open with:

:args

And to add a file, I can say:

:n test.pl

which I expect would then be added to my list of files, but instead it wipes out my current file list and when I type :args I only have test.pl open.

So how can I add and remove files in my args list?

have a try following maps for convenience editing multiple files

" split windows

nmap <leader>sh :leftabove vnew<CR>

nmap <leader>sl :rightbelow vnew<CR>

nmap <leader>sk :leftabove new<CR>

nmap <leader>sj :rightbelow new<CR>

" moving around

nmap <C-j> <C-w>j

nmap <C-k> <C-w>k

nmap <C-l> <C-w>l

nmap <C-h> <C-w>h

Things like :e and :badd will only accept ONE argument, therefore the following will fail

:e foo.txt bar.txt
:e /foo/bar/*.txt
:badd /foo/bar/*

If you want to add multiple files from within vim, use arga[dd]

:arga foo.txt bar.txt
:arga /foo/bar/*.txt
:argadd /foo/bar/*

Listing

To see a list of current buffers, I use:

:ls

Opening

To open a new file, I use

:e ../myFile.pl

with enhanced tab completion (put set wildmenu in your .vimrc).

Note: you can also use :find which will search a set of paths for you, but you need to customize those paths first.

Switching

To switch between all open files, I use

:b myfile

with enhanced tab completion (still set wildmenu).

Note: :b# chooses the last visited file, so you can use it to switch quickly between two files.

Using windows

Ctrl-W s and Ctrl-W v to split the current window horizontally and vertically. You can also use :split and :vertical split (:sp and :vs)

Ctrl-W w to switch between open windows, and Ctrl-W h (or j or k or l) to navigate through open windows.

Ctrl-W c to close the current window, and Ctrl-W o to close all windows except the current one.

Starting vim with a -o or -O flag opens each file in its own split.

With all these I don't need tabs in Vim, and my fingers find my buffers, not my eyes.

Note: if you want all files to go to the same instance of Vim, start Vim with the --remote-silent option.

I use the following, this gives you lots of features that you'd expect to have in other editors such as Sublime Text / Textmate

1. Use buffers not 'tab pages'. Buffers are the same concept as tabs in almost all other editors.
2. If you want the same look of having tabs you can use the vim-airline plugin with the following setting in your .vimrc: let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled = 1. This automatically displays all the buffers as tab headers when you have no tab pages opened
3. Use Tim Pope's vim-unimpaired which gives [b and ]b for moving to previous/next buffers respectively (plus a whole host of other goodies)
4. Have set wildmenu in your .vimrc then when you type :b <file part> + Tab for a buffer you will get a list of possible buffers that you can use left/right arrows to scroll through
5. Use Tim Pope's vim-obsession plugin to store sessions that play nicely with airline (I had lots of pain with sessions and plugins)
6. Use Tim Pope's vim-vinegar plugin. This works with the native :Explore but makes it much easier to work with. You just type - to open the explorer, which is the same key as to go up a directory in the explorer. Makes navigating faster (however with fzf I rarely use this)
7. fzf (which can be installed as a vim plugin) is also a really powerful fuzzy finder that you can use for searching for files (and buffers too). fzf also plays very nicely with fd (a faster version of find)
8. Use Ripgrep with vim-ripgrep to search through your code base and then you can use :cdo on the results to do search and replace

:ls

for list of open buffers

• :bp previous buffer
• :bn next buffer
• :bn (n a number) move to n'th buffer
• :b <filename-part> with tab-key providing auto-completion (awesome !!)

In some versions of vim, bn and bp are actually bnext and bprevious respectively. Tab auto-complete is helpful in this case.

Or when you are in normal mode, use ^ to switch to the last file you were working on.

Plus, you can save sessions of vim

:mksession! ~/today.ses

The above command saves the current open file buffers and settings to ~/today.ses. You can load that session by using

vim -S ~/today.ses

No hassle remembering where you left off yesterday. ;)

To add to the args list:

:argadd

To delete from the args list:

:argdelete

In your example, you could use :argedit test.pl to add test.pl to the args list and edit the file in one step.

:help args gives much more detail and advanced usage

Vim (but not the original Vi!) has tabs which I find (in many contexts) superior to buffers. You can say :tabe [filename] to open a file in a new tab. Cycling between tabs is done by clicking on the tab or by the key combinations [n]gt and gT. Graphical Vim even has graphical tabs.

I use the command line and git a lot, so I have this alias in my bashrc:

alias gvim="gvim --servername \$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel || echo 'default') --remote-tab"

This will open each new file in a new tab on an existing window and will create one window for each git repository. So if you open two files from repo A, and 3 files from repo B, you will end up with two windows, one for repo A with two tabs and one for repo B with three tabs.

If the file you are opening is not contained in a git repo it will go to a default window.

To jump between tabs I use these mappings:

nmap <C-p> :tabprevious<CR>
nmap <C-n> :tabnext<CR>

To open multiple files at once you should combine this with one of the other solutions.

Many answers here! What I use without reinventing the wheel - the most famous plugins (that are not going to die any time soon and are used by many people) to be ultra fast and geeky.

• ctrlpvim/ctrlp.vim - to find file by name fuzzy search by its location or just its name
• jlanzarotta/bufexplorer - to browse opened buffers (when you do not remember how many files you opened and modified recently and you do not remember where they are, probably because you searched for them with Ag)
• rking/ag.vim to search the files with respect to gitignore
• scrooloose/nerdtree to see the directory structure, lookaround, add/delete/modify files

EDIT: Recently I have been using dyng/ctrlsf.vim to search with contextual view (like Sublime search) and I switched the engine from ag to ripgrep. The performance is outstanding.

EDIT2: Along with CtrlSF you can use mg979/vim-visual-multi, make changes to multiple files at once and then at the end save them in one go.

I use multiple buffers that are set hidden in my ~/.vimrc file.

The mini-buffer explorer script is nice too to get a nice compact listing of your buffers. Then :b1 or :b2... to go to the appropriate buffer or use the mini-buffer explorer and tab through the buffers.

If you are going to use multiple buffers, I think the most important thing is to set hidden so that it will let you switch buffers even if you have unsaved changes in the one you are leaving.

I use the same .vimrc file for gVim and the command line Vim. I tend to use tabs in gVim and buffers in the command line Vim, so I have my .vimrc set up to make working with both of them easier:

" Movement between tabs OR buffers
nnoremap L :call MyNext()<CR>
nnoremap H :call MyPrev()<CR>

" MyNext() and MyPrev(): Movement between tabs OR buffers
function! MyNext()
    if exists( '*tabpagenr' ) && tabpagenr('$') != 1
        " Tab support && tabs open
        normal gt
    else
        " No tab support, or no tabs open
        execute ":bnext"
    endif
endfunction
function! MyPrev()
    if exists( '*tabpagenr' ) && tabpagenr('$') != '1'
        " Tab support && tabs open
        normal gT
    else
        " No tab support, or no tabs open
        execute ":bprev"
    endif
endfunction

This clobbers the existing mappings for H and L, but it makes switching between files extremely fast and easy. Just hit H for next and L for previous; whether you're using tabs or buffers, you'll get the intended results.

When using multiple files in vim, I use these commands mostly (with ~350 files open):

• :b <partial filename><tab> (jump to a buffer)
• :bw (buffer wipe, remove a buffer)
• :e <file path> (edit, open a new buffer>
• pltags - enable jumping to subroutine/method definitions

I made a very simple video showing the workflow that I use. Basically I use the Ctrl-P Vim plugin, and I mapped the buffer navigation to the Enter key.

In this way I can press Enter in normal mode, look at the list of open files (that shows up in a small new window at the bottom of the screen), select the file I want to edit and press Enter again. To quickly search through multiple open files, just type part of the file name, select the file and press Enter.

I don't have many files open in the video, but it becomes incredibly helpful when you start having a lot of them.

Since the plugin sorts the buffers using a MRU ordering, you can just press Enter twice and jump to the most recent file you were editing.

After the plugin is installed, the only configuration you need is:

nmap <CR> :CtrlPBuffer<CR>

Of course you can map it to a different key, but I find the mapping to enter to be very handy.

My way to effectively work with multiple files is to use tmux.

It allows you to split windows vertically and horizontally, as in:

I have it working this way on both my mac and linux machines and I find it better than the native window pane switching mechanism that's provided (on Macs). I find the switching easier and only with tmux have I been able to get the 'new page at the same current directory' working on my mac (despite the fact that there seems to be options to open new panes in the same directory) which is a surprisingly critical piece. An instant new pane at the current location is amazingly useful. A method that does new panes with the same key combos for both OS's is critical for me and a bonus for all for future personal compatibility. Aside from multiple tmux panes, I've also tried using multiple tabs, e.g. and multiple new windows, e.g. and ultimately I've found that multiple tmux panes to be the most useful for me. I am very 'visual' and like to keep my various contexts right in front of me, connected together as panes.

tmux also support horizontal and vertical panes which the older screen didn't (though mac's iterm2 seems to support it, but again, the current directory setting didn't work for me). tmux 1.8

If using only vim built-in commands, the best one that I ever saw to switch among multiple buffers is this:

nnoremap <Leader>f :set nomore<Bar>:ls<Bar>:set more<CR>:b<Space>

It perfectly combines both :ls and :b commands -- listing all opened buffers and waiting for you to input the command to switch buffer.

Given above mapping in vimrc, once you type <Leader>f,

• All opened buffers are displayed
• You can:
  • Type 23 to go to buffer 23,
  • Type # to go to the alternative/MRU buffer,
  • Type partial name of file, then type <Tab>, or <C-i> to autocomplete,
  • Or just <CR> or <Esc> to stay on current buffer

A snapshot of output for the above key mapping is:

:set nomore|:ls|:set more
  1  h    "script.py"    line 1
  2 #h  + "file1.txt"    line 6  -- '#' for alternative buffer
  3 %a    "README.md"    line 17 -- '%' for current buffer
  4       "file3.txt"    line 0  -- line 0 for hasn't switched to
  5     + "/etc/passwd"  line 42 -- '+' for modified
:b '<Cursor> here'

In the above snapshot:

• Second column: %a for current, h for hidden, # for previous, empty for hasn't been switched to.
• Third column: + for modified.

Also, I strongly suggest set hidden. See :help 'hidden'.

if you're on osx and want to be able to click on your tabs, use MouseTerm and SIMBL (taken from here). Also, check out this related discussion.

You can be an absolute madman and alias vim to vim -p by adding in your .bashrc:

alias vim="vim -p"

This will result in opening multiple files from the shell in tabs, without having to invoke :tab ball from within vim afterwards.

I think you may be using the wrong command for looking at the list of files that you have open.

Try doing an :ls to see the list of files that you have open and you'll see:

   1 %a   "./checkin.pl"            line 1
  2 #    "./grabakamailogs.pl"     line 1
  3      "./grabwmlogs.pl"         line 0
  etc.

You can then bounce through the files by referring to them by the numbers listed, e.g. :3b

or you can split your screen by entering the number but using sb instead of just b.

As an aside % refers to the file currently visible and # refers to the alternate file.

You can easily toggle between these two files by pressing Ctrl Shift 6

Edit: like :ls you can use :reg to see the current contents of your registers including the 0-9 registers that contain what you've deleted. This is especially useful if you want to reuse some text that you've previously deleted.

You may want to use Vim global marks.

This way you can quickly bounce between files, and even to the marked location in the file. Also, the key commands are short: 'C takes me to the code I'm working with, 'T takes me to the unit test I'm working with.

When you change places, resetting the marks is quick too: mC marks the new code spot, mT marks the new test spot.

Most of the answers in this thread are using plain vim commands which is of course fine but I thought I would provide an extensive answer using a combination of plugins and functions that I find particularly useful (at least some of these tips came from Gary Bernhardt's file navigation tips):

1. To toggle between the last two file just press <leader> twice. I recommend assigning <leader> to the spacebar:

   nnoremap <leader><leader> <c-^>
   

2. For quickly moving around a project the answer is a fuzzy matching solution such as CtrlP. I bind it to <leader>a for quick access.

3. In the case I want to see a visual representation of the currently open buffers I use the BufExplorer plugin. Simple but effective.

4. If I want to browse around the file system I would use the command line or an external utility (Quicklsilver, Afred etc.) but to look at the current project structure NERD Tree is a classic. Do not use this though in the place of 2 as your main file finding method. It will really slow you down. I use the binding <leader>ff.

These should be enough for finding and opening files. From there of course use horizontal and vertical splits. Concerning splits I find these functions particularly useful:

1. Open new splits in smaller areas when there is not enough room and expand them on navigation. Refer here for comments on what these do exactly:

   set winwidth=84
   set winheight=5
   set winminheight=5
   set winheight=999
   
   nnoremap <C-w>v :111vs<CR>
   nnoremap <C-w>s :rightbelow split<CR>
   set splitright
   

2. Move from split to split easily:

   nnoremap <C-J> <C-W><C-J>
   nnoremap <C-K> <C-W><C-K>
   nnoremap <C-L> <C-W><C-L>
   nnoremap <C-H> <C-W><C-H>
   

Some answers in this thread suggest using tabs and others suggest using buffer to accomplish the same thing. Tabs and Buffers are different. I strongly suggest you read this article "Vim Tab madness - Buffers vs Tabs".

Here's a nice summary I pulled from the article:

Summary:

• A buffer is the in-memory text of a file.
• A window is a viewport on a buffer.
• A tab page is a collection of windows.

I use buffer commands - :bn (next buffer), :bp (previous buffer) :buffers (list open buffers) :b<n> (open buffer n) :bd (delete buffer). :e <filename> will just open into a new buffer.

When I started using VIM I didn't realize that tabs were supposed to be used as different window layouts, and buffer serves the role for multiple file editing / switching between each other. Actually in the beginning tabs are not even there before v7.0 and I just opened one VIM inside a terminal tab (I was using gnome-terminal at the moment), and switch between tabs using alt+numbers, since I thought using commands like :buffers, :bn and :bp were too much for me. When VIM 7.0 was released I find it's easier to manager a lot of files and switched to it, but recently I just realized that buffers should always be the way to go, unless one thing: you need to configure it to make it works right.

So I tried vim-airline and enabled the visual on-top tab-like buffer bar, but graphic was having problem with my iTerm2, so I tried a couple of others and it seems that MBE works the best for me. I also set shift+h/l as shortcuts, since the original ones (moving to the head/tail of the current page) is not very useful to me.

map <S-h> :bprev<Return>
map <S-l> :bnext<Return>

It seems to be even easier than gt and gT, and :e is easier than :tabnew too. I find :bd is not as convenient as :q though (MBE is having some problem with it) but I can live with all files in buffer I think.

In my and other many vim users, the best option is to,

• Open the file using,

:e file_name.extension

And then just Ctrl + 6 to change to the last buffer. Or, you can always press

:ls to list the buffer and then change the buffer using b followed by the buffer number.

• We make a vertical or horizontal split using

:vsp for vertical split

:sp for horizantal split

And then <C-W><C-H/K/L/j> to change the working split.

You can ofcourse edit any file in any number of splits.

I would suggest using the plugin

NERDtree

Here is the github link with instructions.

Nerdtree

I use vim-plug as a plugin manager, but you can use Vundle as well.

vim-plug

Vundle

Adding another answer as this is not covered by any of the answer

To change all buffers to tab view.

 :tab sball

will open all the buffers to tab view. Then we can use any tab related commands

gt or :tabn           "    go to next tab
gT or :tabp or :tabN  "    go to previous tab

details at :help tab-page-commands.

We can instruct vim to open ,as tab view, multiple files by vim -p file1 file2. alias vim='vim -p' will be useful.
The same thing can also be achieved by having following autocommand in ~/.vimrc

 au VimEnter * if !&diff | tab all | tabfirst | endif

Anyway to answer the question: To add to arg list: arga file,

To delete from arg list: argd pattern

More at :help arglist